Behavioural treatment of trichotillomania: two-year follow-up results

Post-treatment evaluation studies of behaviour therapy (BT) for trichotillomania (TTM) have shown that BT is successful in reducing symptoms in this impulse-control disorder. The present study was aimed at investigating gain maintenance at long-term follow-up. TTM-related symptoms and other symptom characteristics were evaluated in 28 patients suffering from TTM before and after brief BT and at a 3-month and 2-year follow-up. The manual-based BT consisted of self-control procedures offered in six sessions. Pre-post effect sizes for TTM symptoms at post-treatment evaluation and at the two follow-ups were 2.91, 1.47, and .87. Compared to the post-treatment effects, the 3-month and 2-year follow-up effect sizes had decreased by 49% and 70%, respectively. Better 2-year follow-up results were associated with lower pre-treatment levels of depressive symptoms and with complete abstinence from hair pulling immediately after treatment.     

Psychometric characteristics of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Inventory in South Africa

The psychometric properties of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Inventory are reported, based on responses of 200 (88 men and 112 women) elementary science teachers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Previous factor analytic studies of this inventory have identified a two-factor solution but this has not been investigated in a South African context. The reliability estimated as internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) was .87. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation indicated a two-factor solution accounting for 38.1% of variance, with Cronbach alphas of .92 and .73 for the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief subscale (Factor 1) and the Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy subscale (Factor 2), respectively. Principal components analysis of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Inventory yielded two conceptually meaningful components, similar to those reported in literature. Although one item did not meet the conditions for acceptance, this inventory may be useful in understanding science teachers' efficacy beliefs in South Africa. These particular findings are preliminary but hopeful. Studies using confirmatory analysis to address the cross-national invariance of this inventory are needed.     

Recent development of cognitive and neuropsychological assessment in Asian countries

There is a growing trend of research in neuropsychological assessment in Asia: The mean number of published studies increased from 1.8 in the 1980s to 16.0 in 2 recent years. About 40% of the studies reviewed concerned test development or adaptation, with the latter greatly outnumbering the former. To facilitate the test selection for clinical use, 36 clinical measures were evaluated based on some statistical criteria. The results showed that only 8 neuropsychological tests (5 Chinese, 2 Korean, and 1 Japanese) met the criteria. Given that Asian and Western populations differ on certain cognitive processes, future development of neuropsychological assessment measures in Asia should move from the adaptation of Western tests toward the construction of original tests with better ecological validity.     

Witnessing Together to Christ's Compassionate Love

This is the text of the address on 31 August 2022 of the moderator of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the WCC's 11th Assembly, which took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31 August to 8 September 2022.     

Toward a Psychology of Resistance

Resistance is all around us in contemporary life. It is an everyday phenomenon of personal and cultural life, as the Chaudhary et al. (2017) volume establishes with theoretical analyses and empirical examples from diverse cultural contexts. Resistance functions in the dynamics of person-by-culture encounters when one party takes an opposing position. With the purpose of working towards a unified approach to resistance, the authors in this volume lay down the foundations for a psychology of resistance as an everyday phenomenon. As a basis for analyzing the role of resistance in the dialectical processes of change, the volume presents resistance as: personal and social, oppositional, intentional and future-oriented, transformational and developmental. We see different positions opening up a debate about whether resistance is a particular, intentional and oppositional phenomenon, or is the basic process of all dialectical transformational change. Further resistance to either position is consistent with moving forward in the development of a psychology of resistance.     

The impact of dissociation and depression on the efficacy of prolonged exposure treatment for PTSD

This study investigates the impact of dissociative phenomena and depression on the efficacy of prolonged exposure treatment in 71 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Diagnoses, comorbidity, pretreatment depressive symptoms, PTSD symptom severity, and dissociative phenomena (trait dissociation, numbing, and depersonalization) were assessed at pretreatment using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. In a pretreatment behavioral exposure test, patients were imaginally exposed to (part of) their trauma memory for 9 min, during which subjective fear was assessed. At posttreatment and 6 months follow-up PTSD, depressive and dissociative symptoms were again assessed in the completers (n = 60). Pretreatment levels of dissociative and depressive symptoms were similar in dropouts and completers and none of the dissociative phenomena nor depression predicted improvement. Against expectations, dissociative phenomena and depression were associated with enhanced rather than impeded fear activation during the behavioral exposure test. However, these effects disappeared after controlling for initial PTSD severity. Hence, rather than supporting contraindication, the current results imply that patients presenting with even severe dissociative or depressive symptoms may profit similarly from exposure treatment as do patients with minimal dissociative or depressive symptoms.     

Structure of the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire among South African employees in the financial services and health sectors

This study sought to validate the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire (WLQ) in South Africa. Respondents were 393 employees within the financial services (n = 238) and health sector (n = 155). Results from the exploratory factor analysis indicated the WLQ to be a unidimensional measure. The goodness-of-fit statistics following confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated a well-fitting measurement model for the WLQ. The WLQ appears to yield reliable and valid scores for use in South African work settings.     

Karen Horney: Theorist in Psychoanalysis and Feminine Psychology

Karen Horney is unique and unparalleled in personality theory. She has the distinction of being the only woman whose theory is detailed in personality textbooks. Horney is known as a neo-Freudian for her revision of Freudian thought; a social psychological theorist for her emphasis on cultural and social influences; a humanist for her holistic view and emphasis on self-realization; and a feminist for her development of a feminine psychology. She was a founder of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and founder and dean of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis, a training institute. She was a teacher who could simplify the most difficult concepts; a therapist with deep human involvement; Editor of the American Journal of Psychoanalysis ; a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association; a regular contributor to scientific sessions; and a prolific writer. She was personally and professionally a "well-rounded balance of an abundance of striving and creative possibility."